Spirituality

In the beginning….. (pun intended) all I wanted to do was discuss from my personal perspective what I felt was a topic of interest; What is Religious versus Spiritual? I have come to understand that people could be Religious without necessarily being Spiritual and that people touting that they were “Spiritual not Religious” may not necessarily be correct in that statement but perhaps they are more seeking Spirituality instead of Religion but all of this was going to require some explanation. So I decided to start with what I felt was at the core of the word “Religious”, which is dogma, and from there the can of worms opened up. That plus searching for what others had written on this same subject seemed to be coming up short for me so I set off to “fill in the gaps” and now I am finally writing Part 3 of what’s turned out to be an expansive discussion of this topic. In order to assist the conclusions I’m making here, I’m including recaps of Parts 1 & 2 (along with some additional commentary) but at the same time am suggesting that you take the time to read them in their entirety as they both comprehensively contribute to the final conclusions I’m making.Continue reading →

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Religious versus Spiritual (Part 1) Have you ever stopped for a moment and thought about the differences between these two words? Think about when they’ve come up in conversation long enough and you might notice some things. So just what is the difference? Most people, especially those that claim the “spiritual not religious” stance will...

Religious versus Spiritual (Part 2) What it means to be “spiritual” with dogma being used as the basis of the definition, it not only puts dogma into the realm of a personal opinion but also being religious or spiritual as a personal experience. As in language, we both can decide that what we see in...

The Spirituality Behind 9-11 (Part 2) If you have not done so, please read Part 1 before reading Part 2. If you have read Part 1 and found it to be thought provoking, get ready to get your mental socks blown off!! There is a high probability with this post that you’re going to be shaking...

The Spirituality Behind 9-11 (Part 1) I’m sure that your initial thought upon seeing the title of this post was something related to the word “blasphemous”. How could anyone state that a day that claimed so many lives via such a hideous event could contain hidden elements of Spirituality? Of course there were the continuous comments...

“A date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked.”…”Very many American lives have been lost.”…“Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.”…“I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again. Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

Today is the eighth anniversary of what some have referred to as the “New Pearl Harbor” and what has simply become known as 9-11. Both involved surprise attacks killing many Americans that resulted in war with the main difference being that the 2001 event was entirely civilians and the 1941 event was a World War versus a Global War on Terrorism which has mainly been an “American War” with some support from other countries initially but these days it seems like it’s only our war; one that some say is more about American Imperialism than protecting us from terrorists, an enemy that we can’t see or apparently find well enough to finally end a war that’s been going on for most of the past 8 yrs with some saying no real end in sight anytime soon.

Heroics and bravery are somewhat expected of soldiers but what about a business man/woman? Or a janitor, security guard, salesman? Aka civilians. This comment is not meant to detract from soldiers but that it’s part of their job but not really for the average civilian. Men and women of all race, creed, color, social status, and occupation were suddenly required to find within them this heroics and bravery.

This is what I noticed watching all of the coverage of the aftermath. That regardless of who they were, they rose to the challenge of assisting not only a fellow American, but most importantly a fellow Human without any question of who they were, what their social/economic status, etc was. It was Humans helping Humans. I was watching The Collective in Action!!

What followed was a very serious question. If we could drop all of our supposed boundaries that make us different, from which myriad judgments and condemnations result, for one day, just what would it take for that to happen permanently? Would it then take humanity to be on the brink of annihilation in order for this to occur permanently? It almost seemed too much to ask much less consider because that day was a lot of Death, Devastation, Destruction, and Mayhem much less the latter question; but that wouldn’t ever happen right? If you truly look at the world over the last 8 yrs it seems to be a lot worse. Not just this endless GWOT (which BTW is still killing endless civilians, just not “ours”) but economic collapse resulting in job losses, foreclosures, growing loss of individual freedoms; the list seems to get longer and longer as time goes on.Continue reading →

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The Church of Oprah vs Christianity A cyberspace "Holy War" has been raging on YouTube for over two months in response to a video used to promote a book exposing The Church of Oprah along with Eckhart Tolle's new age book, A New Earth. The most amazing thing about this phenomenon is when you take a...

If you have read Part 1 and found it to be thought provoking, get ready to get your mental socks blown off!! There is a high probability with this post that you’re going to be shaking your head in disbelief and saying “No way is this true!“, which by the way is a common reaction when people’s beliefs are being seriously challenged. This is why the previous post delved into the various areas that I have come to realize are involved in Truth Seeking.

The next level of Truth is just below your current level of Truth and upon your initial arrival there it’s going to be confusing and sometimes hard to accept.

During the ensuing days after 9/11 the one thing that a lot of Americans did was to reinforce their Patriotism by displaying the flag and saying “God Bless America”. From my perspective, the blessings of God are bestowed upon you continually without fail, 24/7, whether you are asking for it or not. Why? God so loves his children that not loving them is never a consideration.

As a parent, when your child does something wrong, do you stop loving them? You may not agree with what they are doing and even attempt to circumvent it, but ceasing the act of love is not a consideration. Being made in the image of God, then it follows that God does this on an even more expansive level.

I tried to convey to some that the fact that the presence of God is in your life with or without the asking. In other words you cannot not have the presence of God in your life that it is actually impossible to disconnect from God. Hence there is never a reason to ask for Blessings that have continually flowed into your life without ever having to ask for them. All I got in response to this was the “deer in the headlights” look because the big question that resulted from all of this was “How God could let this happen?”

Related posts:

The Spirituality Behind 9-11 (Part 1) I’m sure that your initial thought upon seeing the title of this post was something related to the word “blasphemous”. How could anyone state that a day that claimed so many lives via such a hideous event could contain hidden elements of Spirituality? Of course there were the continuous comments...

Religious versus Spiritual (Part 3) In the beginning….. (pun intended) all I wanted to do was discuss from my personal perspective what I felt was a topic of interest; What is Religious versus Spiritual? I have come to understand that people could be Religious without necessarily being Spiritual and that people touting that they were...

Religious versus Spiritual (Part 2) What it means to be “spiritual” with dogma being used as the basis of the definition, it not only puts dogma into the realm of a personal opinion but also being religious or spiritual as a personal experience. As in language, we both can decide that what we see in...

Religious versus Spiritual (Part 1) Have you ever stopped for a moment and thought about the differences between these two words? Think about when they’ve come up in conversation long enough and you might notice some things. So just what is the difference? Most people, especially those that claim the “spiritual not religious” stance will...

You can be assured that by coming here you will be constantly challenged in how you look at life and your role in it. The result of this is can be that I run the risk of losing you as a reader, so the question I ask of you before proceeding any further is Are You a Seeker of Truth? If so, then as a Seeker of Truth it is imperative that you be diligently prepared to have your Belief Systems obliterated on a regular basis. The payoff for this is the continually unfolding connection to The Infinite in ways you could have never conceived of.

If you are not a Seeker of Truth, then your time here will be limited….or will it? In other words, why did you come here in the first place? Perhaps forces outside of you have guided you here as one of the next steps in your evolution. I’m saying this because of one VERY important fact; THERE ARE NO COINICIDENCES!!! Look at it this way, a coincidence is a co-incident as in a shared incident, so then who is sharing the incident with you? A better way of looking at it is a co-created incident and then again, who co-created it with you?

Going back to the theme of the Spirituality behind 9/11, if The Collective in that single incident turned to The Divine (or whatever you choose to call it) for answers to “How could this happen?”, how would you know that it responded? My response to that question would be the yearning for more which may in turn start as the feeling of emptiness in your life’s direction. Who are you? Where are you going? What’s life about anyway? That in turn would then put you into the energy of seeking for answers. So again I ask you “Are you a seeker of Truth?”

Do I have all the answers? Humility dictates that I respond with “No” and the reason for that is as soon as I think I have a handle on it all, it’s only a matter of time before it expands again. This is an evolving process that never ceases, so to say that I have all the answers is a fallacy because if that was the case then the evolution would cease because there would be nothing more to learn. To date, that has not happened and I don’t ever expect it to happen? Why? It’s a thing called “Root Assumptions” meaning that I am living in what appears to be a Finite Universe. I see and experience beginnings, middles, and ends yet I’m seeking to understand my connection to The Infinite which has no beginnings, middles or ends, hence so do my discoveries.

I am just a Seeker of Truth, nothing more, nothing less. So all I’m doing here is sharing with you what I’ve learned so far.

As a Seeker of Truth you must be prepared that when presented with Truth that is outside of the current belief structure you have aligned yourself to, that it will be extremely easy to pass it off as entirely untrue at which time your Seeking will at least be disengaged if not halted completely. I know this to be true because it has happened to me countless times. I react to something I read or learn about with “No f***ing way!!!” only to eventually discover some time later, the potential possibilities that lie in this newly discovered Truth.Continue reading →

Related posts:

The Spirituality Behind 9-11 (Part 2) If you have not done so, please read Part 1 before reading Part 2. If you have read Part 1 and found it to be thought provoking, get ready to get your mental socks blown off!! There is a high probability with this post that you’re going to be shaking...

“There is no coincidence, and nothing happens “by accident.” Each event and adventure is called to your Self by your Self in order that you might create and experience Who You Really Are.”by Neale Donald Walsch, Conversation with God Series

“You are older than you know and more ageless than you can imagine.”by Jeff Staebell, My Life Experiences

Feelings are the language of the soul.~Neale Donald WalschSource: Conversation with God Series